Mark Ruffalo on "Passing the Banner" to SHE-HULK, Says Tatiana Maslany Is "Freaking Legendary" in the Role
Mark Ruffalo may be winding down his time in the role of Bruce Banner and The Hulk as he’s now talking about "passing the Banner" to Orphan Black's Tatiana Maslany in Marvel’s She-Hulk series.
The series focuses on Jennifer Walters, a.k.a. She-Hulk, a lawyer and cousin of Bruce Banner, “who inherits his Hulk powers after she receives a blood transfusion from him. Unlike Bruce, however, when she hulks out Jennifer is able to retain most of her personality, intelligence, and emotional control.”
In a recent interview with Access Hollywood, Ruffalo praised Maslany in the series, "Tatiana Maslany is fricking legendary as the She-Hulk. I'm passing... the Banner onto her. There are some really good, funny, cool... long, long scenes between the Professor and her. We've never really seen the Hulk interact with people the way he does in that show. It'll be really interesting."
That should be a lot of fun to see! I imagine this show will pass the banner in the same way that Jeremy Renner’s Hawkeye passed the banner to Hailee Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop. I’m excited for this She-Hulk series, though, as I’ve been a fan of that character for a long time. Ruffalo, has played this character nine times now, and it makes sense that he’d be ready to move on.
There are lots of serious aspects to the character and the storylines can be pretty dramatic. But, it’s been said that this show will play with a "more comedic world.”
When previously talking about the series, director Kat Coiro said, "I never choose a project based on genre. And I actually don't think very much about genre, I think about character. And I think about the emotional lives of the characters and, you know, can I bring something? Can I bring a mix of humor and heart to this? Because that is what I love to watch. And it's what I love to work with."
She added, "And so when I stepped into, you know, the Marvel playground — the cool thing about Marvel is that it is an ever-evolving universe and you have straight dramas, and you have very comedic films, and we are in that world where we're definitely playing with a more comedic world, but it also is still part of Marvel land."
The series also stars Renée Elise Goldsberry and Ginger Gonzaga. Mark Ruffalo reprises his role of Bruce Banner, and Jameela Jamil will star in a major role in the upcoming series. Tim Roth will also be back as Abomination!
Coiro split directing duties on She-Hulk with Anu Valia; it's expected Coiro will direct the finale and four other episodes throughout the show's 10-episode first season. She-Hulk is going to premiere sometime in 2022.